LU-RRTC to spearhead capacity-building efforts for racial and ethnic populations

Kessler Foundation scientists Denise Fyffe, PhD, Anthony Lequerica, PhD, and John O’Neill, PhD, have won a $75,000 sub-award from Langston University (LU), a historically Black college/university (HBCU). The title of the grant is "A Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) that empowers minority entities to participate in Research and Development through research and capacity building.” The new LU-RRTC is funded through a $4.375 million five-year grant from the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).

The RRTC will provide leadership for a countrywide line of research examining experiences and outcomes of people from traditionally underserved racial and ethnic populations and communities, and spearhead capacity-building efforts. The RRTC will conduct activities in partnership with Drs. Fyffe, Lequerica, and O'Neill who will integrate faculty members and researchers from minority-serving institutions into selected Kessler Foundation research projects. They will also serve as mock peer reviewers for these individuals as they develop manuscripts for publication.

"We're looking forward to working with the professionals at Langston University," remarked Dr. O'Neill, director of disability and employment research at Kessler Foundation. "This type of research and training is critical to improving rehabilitation methods and services for people with disabilities. This grant will empower minority-serving institutions to increase their output of disability and health research. This will encourage the development of rehabilitation strategies that foster maximum social and economic independence for individuals with disabilities."

The LU-RRTC aims to improve minority entities, such as HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions, and American Indian tribal colleges/universities, capacity and infrastructure to engage in disability and rehabilitation research by conducting a programmatic line of research examining experiences and outcomes of persons from traditionally underserved racial and ethnic populations and communities and capacity-building efforts.

Dr. Corey L. Moore, CRC, research director at LU, is principal investigator of the project. This national RRTC also conducts activities in partnership with the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts, Boston (an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institution), South Carolina State University (a HBCU), Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services, Delaware Nation Vocational Rehabilitation Program, Cherokee Nation Vocational Rehabilitation Program, Association of University Centers on Disabilities, and the Southwest Addictions Technology Transfer Center.